"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Clara Clairvoyant
Consultation 10 to 4
In the shadows
Leave skepticism at the door
Oh oh oh rap tap table tap
Have you anyone to talk to
Not quite living on the other side, contact
Clara Clairvoyant
Her consultation is 10 to 4
Look
Kathy Kathoolica
In the box from 3 to 4
In the shadow
Leave genitals at the door
Oh oh oh but but tut tut
Have you any perversion to confess
To the lumpy cassock on the other side
Kathy Katholica
In the box from 3 to 4
Rocky Rock'n'Roller
Sometimes up and sometimes down
In the long run
Take the path down on the ground
Between lost belief and gross fear
Have you any idea how much you have?
Not quite nothing and not quite all!
Psychedelic Yogi
Is not a very groovy groovy guru
Consultation 10 to 4
In the shadows
Leave skepticism at the door
Oh oh oh rap tap table tap
Have you anyone to talk to
Not quite living on the other side, contact
Clara Clairvoyant
Her consultation is 10 to 4
Look
Kathy Kathoolica
In the box from 3 to 4
In the shadow
Leave genitals at the door
Oh oh oh but but tut tut
Have you any perversion to confess
To the lumpy cassock on the other side
Kathy Katholica
In the box from 3 to 4
Rocky Rock'n'Roller
Sometimes up and sometimes down
In the long run
Take the path down on the ground
Between lost belief and gross fear
Have you any idea how much you have?
Not quite nothing and not quite all!
Psychedelic Yogi
Is not a very groovy groovy guru
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
The song is Donovan's analysis of the human condition always seeking help from without, instead of within. Analysis as a means to self-healing; however, the only analysis where enlightenment is achieved is discovered by looking within yourself...not in some carney's tent w/ Clara the Clairvoyant...not in the office of some professional analyst charging $200 an hour (all the while thinking about the Woody Allen movie he watched the night before)...not in a confessional where the Priest gets his kicks from hearing all about your "perversions"...and not in some ashram w/ a Psychedelic Yogi thinking about his own "claim to fame".
Rocky Rockin'Roller is none other than John Lennon, and the last verse is referring to Lennon's song, Rocky Raccoon, from the White Album. After his trip to see the Maharishi, Lennon was in personal turmoil...he had met Yoko and part of himself was swelling w/ excitement and joy, while another part of him was massively struggling w/ Fear and his own Ego. The words of the Maharishi were direct and simple and Lennon did not like than some "weird" guy in long, flowing robes possessive of simple, powerful truth was being treated like royalty by the rest of the world.
Lennon could not separate the words of the Maharishi from the Maharishi. These words weren't human in origin, but divine. Years later, Lennon would come to realize the truth and brilliance in those words from India, but he simply wasn't ready at that time. Hence, Donovan refers to Lennon as "sometimes up and sometimes down", quite accurately so. At that time, Lennon would have "given everything he had for a little peace of mind". His songs on the White Album were brilliant, but they were written under the vibration of annoyance, frustration and thus Fear.
Donovan could see that Lennon was in between "lost beliefs and gross fear", struggling w/ what he had in that moment ("not quite nothing and not quite all"). And what was bugging Lennon the most was this little Holy man from India, with a weird, high-pitched voice, telling Lennon that he already knew the answers to all his own problems, inside of himself. That he needed to let go of the "out there" and only embrace what was within himself through Meditation and deep reflection. To Lennon, at the time, this seemed more of a riddle than an answer, and thus his Ego attacked at what he perceived to be the Maharishi's "shortcomings" (just listen to the song, Rocky Raccoon)...thus, Donovan created the line, "Psychedelic Yogi is not a very groovy, groovy guru as the song's outro...to reflect Lennon's beliefs at the time.
The theme of Donovan's entire album, Open Road, was taking personal responsibility of the self by going within and rejecting society and their status quo (Riki Tiki Tavi, et al). John Lennon was in transition as this point in his life, and Donovan was merely offering him (and ALL OF US) this simple, but CRUCIAL advice...find all of your answers and truth by going within, and rejecting the white noise of the "out there"!
Thanks for reading.